New to gardening

You get rewarded when you produce ur own food. Its like chopping wood.....it warms you twice. If you ever did sell ur berries, you could advertise them as being "organic" as I doubt any chemicals would have contacted them in the wild. This could command an even better price and more select market.

Mother Nature has not been too nice the last few days, yes we got the rain that the gardens needed...but she could have controlled her winds a little. I have spent the last two days working on my tomatoes and peppers that got wind damage. I lost a beautiful tomatillo plant :( and a pepper plant. I guess that is why you always plant extra!! Hopefully it is the last of violent storm in the area for the summer.

It is nice to leave the garden daily with a few goodies to enjoy for dinner! Todays I got some snap peas and more bok choy to make a veggie stir fry. We also got some cucumbers and another patty pan squash. I think our tomatoes will be turn red within 2 weeks....so looking forward to that!! Fresh tomatoes with loads of flavor...yum!!

Not sure how your stingless bees would do here in the states----we are definitely in a bee crisis here with lots dying and a lot of worry this is causing to those who have crops that have to have the bees to pollinate their plants/trees. We are learning about bee keeping in the horticulture class and it is something I will ask the next time we have our guest speaker.

Eastern Shore of Maryland USING CAPS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED FRIEND TILL SURGERY! Team leader for Empty Nesters and the Gardening Team.

Good to be able to enjoy all the "fruits of ur labour" with a pleasurable breakfast knowing you have had quite a workout picking ur berries, too. In Australia, we have native stingless bees in our warmer areas, is that something you could look into, to see if there is something similar for your massive acreage?

More good news. Yesterday, I went out and did a large pick of berries. Yes, me and those berries. I went out at 9 AM and came in at 4 PM! The good new is that I think the that was the last of the large picks. I might have a few little picks, enough for dessert for dinner... That is in the main area that I pick is well picked over!! I am sure that there is more in the patch behind the house but I am leaving those for family and friends if they want to pick them...otherwise the birds will enjoy them! More news, this years we have massive black berry bushes everywhere....so in late July to early August...I will become the crazy berry lady again. That will be fun...during the time the tomatoes are all coming to be canned! Well, this is how I see it!! It keeps me moving!! It is summer and I am outdoors...doing something positive and filling my freezer with berries for healthy winter treats! I also make the jam for gifts for my family and friends. It is kinda crazy but I look at my berries as gifts from my land and I do my best to use the gifts I get from the land.

Yes, the garden is doing very well...even better than I thought it would :) My girlfriend, Ronda, and I are beginners! We are learning a lot about what to do and what not to do next year! So it anyone has any great tips...share please!!

Ground cherries are cousins to tomatillos, they are different however. They grow alike, above ground with a paper type wrapper around its fruit. The fruit is smaller and yellow. It is sweet and you can just pop them in you mouth and enjoy them. I have also seen that they make pies and jam with them. I may just try one or two jars of jam and give a few family members some to try. They seem to be growing well and are loaded with fruit. I will post pictures once I start picking the fruit. They are kinda cool.

Sorry I cant access ur sparkpage, you may have this set to private.(u could aways make me a friend in Sparkpeople via my page) I would suggest that jam, pies, muffins, syrups and wines made from either blackcaps or blackberries: are to die for!! Given that you have such a good supply you could have them in smoothies and as a breakfast addition, eg with porridge or yoghurt If I had ur supply I would probably morph into a bear. LOL. If you have such a good supply of land it maybe worthwhile growing black mulberries as well (another favorite of mine).

Black caps or black raspberries are different than blackberries. Blackberries come in August, and yes I have loads of them too! Last year I did not see many blackberries but this year they are all over! Here is a picture of black caps: ok...I can't get the picture to up load...but I have a picture on my sparkpage if you want to check it out.

We have family and friends over to pick. I try to pick enough to make those Christmas gifts. I may try to make some wine this year. It seems like my patches are growing... I don't think I would invite just strangers off the street a lot of people don't respect the land and I would not want it to be come some ones garbage can, people can be pigs...sorry to say.

Sounds like you have jumped in full force with gardening. Sounds like you have the makings for a lot of jam, too. Maybe you should put a sign out by the road letting people stop by and pick some of the berries for free. That is quite a bit of land---is the rest in farm land or woods? Nice to be eating your own veggies, too. Our tomatoes are just starting to ripen and we have enjoyed a few tomatoes already---and think we will be picking a few cucumbers this week, too. Glad you are back---come join us on the chat!

Eastern Shore of Maryland USING CAPS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED FRIEND TILL SURGERY! Team leader for Empty Nesters and the Gardening Team.

Hi and welcome to the team. Love all berries and miss picking them too

Dorothy

If you tell God no because He won't explain the reason He wants you to do something, you are actually hindering His blessing. But when you say yes to Him, all of heaven opens to pour out His goodness and reward your obedience. What matters more than material blessings are the things He is teaching us in our spirit. Charles Stanley

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in

Black caps are wild black raspberries. They are wonderful ...but I have so many to pick! I try to remind myself that it is a way to keep me moving and it is a free exercise! I picked for over an hour today and could have picked for 5 hours. Maybe if I did not spend 3 hrs working in the garden I would have felt like picking more!

Also good news, picked our first 4 cucumbers, 3 yellow cherry tomatoes, 3 kohlrabies, 1 patty pan squash and kale, Had a cucumber and raw kohlrabi for a snack and the squash for dinner! Planning on making some kale chips tonight to enjoy tomorrow!!

Hi! My name is Heidi and I have been back and forth on SP. I am trying to recommit myself to being active. I have recently retired and moved to the country. I have a large garden (my first) that I put in with a friend. I want to get into canning and jumped it to the process full force. Our garden is 60' x 100'! It keeps me busy and moving. That was part of the idea, get me moving more and in the long run eating healthier!

We also have about 50 acres of property and I swear that about 7 acres are wild black caps, I have been picking since for the last two weeks...and I am still seeing black!!

Always looking for ideas to improve my garden and recipes to make some good eats with the veggies!!

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